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Into the luminous countries of the unborn

 He sat in secret chambers looking out

Into the luminous countries of the unborn

Where all things dreamed by the mind are seen and true

And all that the life longs for is drawn close.

He saw the Perfect in their starry homes

Wearing the glory of a deathless form,

Lain in the arms of the Eternal’s peace,

Rapt in the heart-beats of God-ecstasy.

He lived in the mystic space where thought is born

And will is nursed by an ethereal Power

And fed on the white milk of the Eternal’s strengths

Till it grows into the likeness of a god.


In these lines, Sri Aurobindo is penning Ashwapati's experience of his deeper sheaths (bodies) and visions as they appear in the secluded silent spaces of his soul. As Ashwapati sat in the secret chambers of the deeper cave of his soul, looking out with his subtle eyes, he saw dazzling lands of the future where all the perfection aspired by the mind was found. These lands dismissed as simply illusions by material-minded were true and real for the soul. All the delight and joy the life longs for became accessible here. The Perfect was seen in their celestial homes wearing the glory of an immortal form, resting in the arms of constant, everlasting peace, enchanted and in rapturous delight. Ashwapati now lived in the mystic space where thought originated and Will was nourished by feeding it with white milk of supernatural Power till it grew into fiery God-strength. 



An illustration of Luminous Countries of the Unborn. Source: Himalayas, Mountains.



Agni-Yoga of Fiery Will


Sri Aurobindo in his book "Hymns to the Mystic Fire" translates from Rig Veda hymns invoking Agni (fire) of aspiration or the 'mystic fire' of Will to aspire. Sri Aurobindo's lines on 'Will' could be compared with a yoga in theosophy termed as "Agni-Yoga" or the Will of Fire to synthesize (as a culmination of aspiration) and achieve union through identitation with whole.


"In the book Agni Yoga (by Helena Roerich), some of the teaching to be given has filtered through but only from the angle of the will aspect. No book has as yet made its appearance which gives in any form whatsoever the "yoga of synthesis". We have had "bhakti yoga" or union through devotion. Raja Yoga is now receiving emphasis, which is union through the mind. It sounds like a redundancy to speak of union through synthesis, but it is not so. It is union through identification with the whole—not union through realisation or through vision. Mark well this distinction, for it holds the secret of the next step for the personalities of the race. The Bhagavad Gita gives us primarily the key to the yoga of devotion. Patanjali teaches us the yoga of the mind. In the Gospel story we have the portrayal of realisation, but the key or the secret of identification is still withheld. It lies in the custody of a few in this integrating group of mystics and knowers and will be brought out into manifestation in the furnace of their individual experience and thus given to the world. But the time is not yet. The group must grow in strength and knowledge and in intuitive perception." - A Treatise on White Magic.


"There exist no half-measures; there is either striving or the paralyzing cold of death. Moreover, striving is replete with the joy of cosmic realization, whereas the stiffening of death is filled with terror.


The governments that try to conceal their poverty of thought behind a mask of conventional success are doing the work of grave-diggers. Thus, it is necessary to point out to the younger generations the approach of the Yoga of Life.


All preceding Yogas, given from the highest Sources, took as their basis a particular aspect of life. Now, at the dawn of the age of Maitreya, there is needed a Yoga comprising the essence of the whole of life, all-embracing, evading nought. One remembers the example of those unignitible youths in the biblical legend who valiantly sacrificed themselves to the fiery furnace and thereby acquired power.


You may call this the Yoga of Life. But the most precise name will be Agni Yoga. It is precisely the element of fire that gives its name to this Yoga of self- sacrifice. While in other Yogas the dangers are diminished through practices, in the Yoga of Fire the perils are increased, because fire, as an all-binding element, manifests itself everywhere. But it also permits mastery of the subtlest energies. Fire will not lead away from life; it will act as a trustworthy guide to the far-off worlds. For what but fire saturates immeasurable space?


Thus, with a smile of joy, greet the fiery life." - Agni Yoga, Helena Roerich.

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